East Coast couple heads back to Idaho Shopko where they met before the store closes

Shopko closing brings former employees to visit the site where they fell in love

May 17, 2019 at 3:43 PM CDT - Updated May 17 at 3:43 PM

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) An East Coast couple stopped by Twin Falls to visit the place where they first fell in love.

Mike and Molly Malone Hintz were former employees at Shopko and were employed at the time when the store open its doors in 1986.

The married couple of more than 30 years decided to revisit the site after finding out, the store was closing its doors.

They arranged their anniversary celebration around the store’s final days. Mike Hintz said it brought so many great memories working and living in Twin Falls.

"This is a part of our life that we left a long time ago. We always said that we need to get back here sometime and just check it out. Now with the company closing, it was a great time. It worked out with our vacation. It was emotional walking through this store," Mike Hintz said.

The idea came from Molly Hintz and said it she's glad they made the trip.

"I thought it would be awesome," she said. "At first when I had the idea I thought it was kind of goofy, but the more I thought about it, 'Oh, that's kind of fun, kind of romantic,'" she said.

This trip, the first of two President Donald Trump is expected to make to Japan in the next six weeks, is more of a social call meant to highlight the alliance between Japan and the United States and the friendship between their leaders.